Review - Pushing The Limits (Katie McGarry)

   Synopsis

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.    -Goodreads.com

 

 My Review

This book is an emotional rollercoaster; a good one, that is hard to get off once you’ve started. I’m usually not one to get overly emotional about a book (besides the occasional fan girl moment), but this book actually had me weeping, and I haven’t cried reading a book since I was about 12. 

My emotional range when reading this book: 

In response to Grace’s attitude toward Echo.

 Noah... Noah... Noah...*swoon*

 Noah ‘giving up’ his younger brothers.

 When finding out how Echo got her scars, and how it all unfolded.

I don’t want to give too much away about the story, but if there’s one thing that differentiates a good book from an amazing one in my opinion, it’s character growth. Echo and Noah are both lost in their current lives, but somehow they're both able to overcome everything they've gone through, and build a new life. Echo suffered a traumatic event which she can no longer recall due to her mind repressing the incident. In addition she feels like she’s lost everyone who loved her, her mother to mental illness, her brother in the Iraq War and her father to his new wife. Enter swoon worthy Noah with his delicious good looks and 6 pack abs own set of problems, who just happens to need tutoring from the leading lady; passion and romance ensue.

“Echo already felt like a heavy drug. The kind I avoided on purpose—crack, heroin, meth. The ones that screwed with your mind, crept into your blood and left you powerless, helpless.”
― Katie McGarry, Pushing The limits

Noah and Echo are both amazingly detailed characters, but to be honest Mrs Collins (the school psychologist/social worker) was the star for me. She was the catalyst for a lot of what happened in the story. I loved that she had Noah and Echo’s wellbeing at heart, and I only wish there were more people like her working in “the system” today. As for other supporting characters, they all had their own story which complimented the main story, but never detracted away from it.

In addition to the main plot there are some great messages about friendship in this book, which I think are very relative to today’s society. Ever heard the saying, ‘When everything turns to shit, you’ll find out who your real friends are’. Well Echo's 'friend' Grace is the epitome of a crappy friend. When Echo becomes the school ‘freak’ she doesn’t want anything to do with her, basically doesn’t acknowledge her existence in public, but tells her in secret she still wants to be her friend. But when Echo starts to head back down the ‘desired’ path of dating  her old Boyfriend (typical school jock) suddenly Grace wants to be friends again, but only because it benefits her socially.

“They say be a good girl, get good grades, be popular. They know nothing about me.”                                                                                           ― Katie McGarry, Pushing the Limits 

Noah on the other hand has 2 great friends, who are also ‘social misfits’, who he deems as his family and often refers to them as his brother and sister. A reminder that family doesn’t necessarily run in the veins

Overall I loved this book. It’s a definite must read! But set aside a few hours, because it takes some will power to put it down!

 My rating: 5/5